CIBE CEFS – Fact sheet on Molasses – 10 November 2017

CEFS and EFFAT have joined together to publish the following Joint Declaration on President Juncker’s Industrial Policy Strategy. Sugar production in the EU is an industrial activity. The construction of a sugar factory entails high capital costs, typically of several hundred million euros. Not the least of these costs is the specialised equipment and heavy machinery required to produce sugar at scale. The process of sugar production is also highly [...]

CEFS, CIBE and EFFAT represent 61 sugar producing companies, 28,000 workers, and 140,000 sugar beet growers. To coincide with the last round of trade negotiations between the EU and Mercosur, our organisations published a press release calling for the exclusion of sugar from the discussions. The Brazilian sugarcane association – UNICA – issued a response shortly afterwards. Our reply to UNICA can be found here: it offers a broad overview [...]

With regards to the negotiations concerning the departure of the UK from the EU, CEFS asks for the following:[1] 1. No disruption of trade After Brexit, the UK will be the EU-27’s most important export market for sugar. It is essential that sugar producers in the EU-27 retain access to the UK market, both as part of an eventual trade agreement and to avoid a “trade gap” between the conclusion [...]

EU sugar and renewable ethanol producers, sugar beet farmers, and workers call for no concessions on sugar and ethanol in the context of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations. Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar, accounting for a massive 52 per cent of world net sugar exports in 2015. Brazil is also the second largest producer and exporter of ethanol worldwide. Brazil is already the single biggest beneficiary [...]

  The EU sugar sector faces its biggest change in decades. On 1 October 2017 EU sugar production quotas will end. At this sensitive and uncertain time, the European Commission has proposed to vote in the Management Committee of 27 April 2017 on the introduction of ‘temporary’ measures (tenders for imports at reduced duties) to increase the supply of sugar on the EU market. EU sugar producers (CEFS), sugar beet [...]

CEFS, the European association of sugar producers, welcomes EFSA’s announcement of an upcoming Scientific Opinion on the health effects of sugars added to food and beverages, with the aim to establish a science-based cut-off value for daily exposure to added sugars from all sources which is not associated with adverse health effects. CEFS continues to stress the importance of nutrition-related advice to be based on sound science, and looks forward [...]

On 6 March 2017 representatives of employers (CEFS) and workers (EFFAT – the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) in the EU beet sugar sector met in a plenary meeting of the EU Sugar Sector Social Dialogue. The EU beet sugar industry is preparing for one of the biggest changes in its history: the end of production quotas on 1 October 2017. The end of quotas presents [...]

On 15 November 2016 the European Commission presented to the Agriculture and Fisheries Council the results of an economic study carried out by the Joint Research Centre on the “cumulative effects of concessions made in the context of free trade agreements on the EU agricultural sector.” The study covers the impact of 12 future trade agreements on the agri-food sector and their impact on producer prices and production volumes for [...]

On 4 November 2016 CEFS and EFFAT agreed to a joint statement on the revision of the Emissions Trading System for the fourth trading period (2021-2030). CEFS and EFFAT urge the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee to support the in/out approach of the European Commission over the alternative “tiered” approach. The full joint statement can be found here